As new opportunities and technologies appear in Japan’s energy landscape, the number of overseas companies entering the market has been steadily increasing. Japan’s External Trade Organisation (JETRO) has noted energy-related firms as among the top three industries of new market entrants over the past year.
Often, this is a foreign company’s first foray into the Japanese market. Many of these have previously supported Japanese clients in their overseas projects, or provided products and services from a regional base. However, they have not had a reason to attract and recruit local talent in Japan. And when the need to make such hires finally arises, a number of cultural clashes and misunderstandings tend to pop up.
Let’s take a look at the nuances of communication in an employment interview – when a foreign firm is looking for a Japanese hire – that commonly cause misunderstandings, badly managed expectations and ultimately suboptimal outcomes for hiring companies; and how these can best be avoided.
Very high context communication culture
Erin Meyer’s book, The Culture Map, provides a deep dive into low context and high context communication cultures. The U.S., UK and Australia rank as the lowest context communication cultures globally, whereas Japan is on the opposite side of the spectrum.
In a practical sense, Americans mean what they say and nothing more. You can decipher their message simply by understanding the words communicated. Furthermore, repetition is common in low context cultures. An American will likely start their point by outlining what they will say, then saying it and finally summarizing what they said to make sure it is clearly understood.
The Japanese on the other hand tend to communicate on multiple levels below verbalized words. Vocal tone, body language, posture, time taken to reply, word choice and the choice to not say certain words or verbalize a particular point need to be observed when communicating.
In the U.S., the phrase “I can see your point of view” would likely be read as “now I understand and we agree.” In Japan, however, this may be a polite way of saying “I disagree completely, but you have your opinion and I don’t feel like confronting you on this topic.”
This first misread, whether it’s the Japanese failing to express a point clearly, or the American being unable to read the air of communication, can set the tone for the rest of the interview to become increasingly distant and disconnected.
The Japanese are able to communicate with each other in a high context manner, partially due to the fact that it’s an island nation that was closed off for centuries. Though there are certainly differences between regions, the Japanese have a good amount of shared experiences growing up that allow for a mutual understanding with less verbal input.
Conversely, in a younger, larger nation with a significantly more multicultural population such as the U.S., the amount of shared experiences in childhood is far less. The result is a culture where people explain their point of view very clearly to ensure proper understanding, whereas the Japanese can implicitly understand each other. In fact, Japanese has a popular word ‘KY, or kuuki yomenai’ that translates as ‘person who cannot read the air’, which is used to describe those who fail to pick up implicitly communicated messages.
When interviewing a Japanese professional, pay attention to the details and nuances. In a case where you aren’t 100% sure of their intent in what they say, don’t be afraid to pause, take a step back and clarify the point, before moving on to the next topic.
Modesty is elegant, we succeed together
As a 14-year resident of Japan, one common difference of perception I often have with foreign interviewers is the self-confidence of a Japanese candidate. Another Japanese word that’s important in understanding the national character is ‘kenkyou’ which most closely translates as ‘modesty’. However, it has a higher context that includes respectfulness, appreciation and gratitude. To be kenkyou is to be sophisticated, well educated, knowing one’s place in society.
In the context of a job interview, it is clear that the candidate in almost all cases will see themselves as the junior party, therefore requiring an attitude of kenkyou. Their body language, word choice, way of expressing achievements will be modest and downplaying their achievements, while showing respect and appreciation to the support of others in the achievement of their goals.
For more context, a typical Japanese response to a compliment is ‘sonno koto nai’, meaning, ‘no that is not the case’. Another example is that prior to eating, Japanese say ‘itadakimasu’ which conveys appreciation to everyone and everything involved in the meal – from the farmers, to the animals and the soil, as well as the delivery driver who brought the food to the supermarket.
In an interview, the typical embodiment of this is the ‘we, not I communication’. When the interviewer looks at the CV, picks out a bullet point describing a successful project and asks the candidate to describe what they did, the candidate proceeds to describe the work of the team and how they reached the goal.
Our interviewer then assumes the candidate must have played a minor role in the project and therefore discounts the experience and achievement. The solution is to understand the contextual communication and dig deeper. Asking again about the project and about the candidate’s personal contribution will extract the answer that the interviewer was initially looking for.
For those interviewers who typically hire in the U.S., UK or even more Westernized Asian cultures such as Singapore, they’re used to taking the candidates’ description of their achievements with a grain of salt because the competitive nature of those cultures often leads to an exaggeration of one’s achievements. When in Japan, flip the script.
Is the candidate really interested?
A common misread of foreign interviewers is on a candidate’s level of interest in the job based on how they present themselves and communicate in the interview. It is very common for Japanese professionals to state that they’re not actually looking for a job. The interviewer then feels that this may be a waste of time and that the candidate lacks interest or passion for the opportunity.
Understanding that Japanese professionals often have a high level of loyalty and pride in their company is key. Though they’re not actively looking, this should not be taken as a statement that they’re not interested. Rather, it means that they lack sufficient information whether to decide to leave their current position and join yours.
Negativity bias plays a part in this as well. Many foreigners see the Japanese as risk averse, but a more accurate description would be that they carefully and objectively analyze risks. When presented with a new idea, the natural first thought is ‘what could go wrong’ rather than ‘what is the potential upside’.
This leads to a Japanese professional asking questions in an interview in order to better understand downside risks; whereas the Western professional’s line of questioning will likely drive toward what can be done to maximize upside potential.
These communication nuances often leave the overseas interviewer sharing feedback to our agency that the candidate seemed disinterested, lacked confidence in the business and doesn’t want to leave her company anyway!
But when we catch up with the candidate to debrief, they are bubbling with excitement. From gathering more information about the company, the role, the vision in the interview, and the interviewer allaying some of their concerns and managing risk during the Q&A session, they have more context and confidence in the opportunity and strongly hope to proceed.
Every culture has its own nuances and peculiarities. On the spectrum of high context and low context communication, egalitarian and hierarchical, and how confrontational people are in discussions, there’s a wide gap between Japan and many Western countries.
Taking the time to slow down communication, probing more deeply, and asking for clarification will be key steps to communicate and hire smoothly in Japan.
Andrew Statter is a Partner at Titan GreenTech, an executive recruitment agency focused on the clean energy space.
